This invention relates generally to a system for simulating motions, sounds and/or visual images for a child in a child seat, and in particular, simulating the motions, sounds and/or visual images to which the child is subjected when carried by the child seat in a vehicle.
Parents and guardians of infants and young children have recognized, that on occasion, a child who may otherwise be agitated, restless, sleepy, or unconsolable, can be calmed down and soothed by placing the child in the child's car, or child, seat within a conveyance, such as the family vehicle, and taken for a drive. It is believed that the vibrations of the vehicle, the sounds heard by the child, such as road noise, engine and transmission noises, etc., may tend to relax and calm the child down. Additionally, the child may be stimulated by visual images which seemingly pass by as the child looks through the windows during movement of the vehicle.
However, placing a child in a child seat and driving the child around in a vehicle can be a time consuming endeavor, and also places wear and tear on the vehicle. Further, given the cost of fuel and the time expended by the driver in driving the vehicle, this child soothing method may become less attractive. Additionally, there are safety concerns in that the risk of the child being involved in a vehicular accident are obviously greater if the child is carried in a vehicle more often than is necessary.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide the child with the comforting and soothing motions, sounds, and perhaps visual images typically experienced by the child when riding in his or her child seat in a vehicle, without requiring the child to actually be placed in the vehicle and driven about.
It would further be desirable to be able to simulate such vehicle riding experiences within a safe, controlled, and convenient environment, such as, for example, the child's own home.
It would be still further desirable to provide the child in a child seat with motions, sights, and sounds differing from that typically experienced in a vehicle ride.